Jane and the kids come back on Tuesday. Hooray! I am truly excited to receive them back into my life, or rather to be a more prominent part of their lives again. These last 3 weeks have given me a glimpse into the life of a bachelor, or at least? the life of a? solitary individual. Here is what I have learned:
- There is a sense of emptiness in the single person’s life.
- Things are much more quiet, so quiet that the stillness is at times soothing.
- I have little motivation to clean when I’m doing it just for myself.
- Life is more reflective alone, but less satisfying.
- I didn’t seem to have any more time being alone than I did with my family. It seems that I filled up my day either way.
- There is the physical side that bachlorhood lacks.
- I have been amazed at the depth of food in our cupboards. I’m finding all kinds of stuff to eat, even though I haven’t gone grocery shopping in 3 weeks (except to buy milk).
- I wish I had more pictures, even a scrapbook, to look at and think of the faces of my family.
- It disturbs me to know that I could die and my kids would fill in the gap with some other male parental figure, such as a grandpa or uncle. It helps me remember that we are blessed to be stewards over our children for a time, and then they are gone. It is not the other way around, meaning, the children are not blessed to be under our parentage for a time.
- It is much more fun to watch a movie with someone than to watch it alone. This carries over into life. It is much more fun to do things with people rather than to do them alone. Sure it may be more cumbersome to do them with others, but really the central truth I have learned about life is that our existence is defined by our relationships with others, more than anything else. I know that’s abstract.
- Jane is the only woman I have ever met with common sense. Yes, that’s quite a statement, but there it is.
That about wraps it up. I have been pretty busy, so it’s not like I’ve been sitting around doing nothing. Basically my life is overly busy right now, and I need to cut back on some of my activities. Only thing is, which do I possibly cut?
- Elders Quorum
- STC
- Basketball Team
- Fishing
- My RJ job
- Freelance jobs
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Just a few thoughts:
3. Since I can’t imagine you having less intrinsic motivation (though you are often good about doing chores assigned oh-so-lovingly by your wife) for cleaning than normal, I am kind of scared to see our house.
6. I miss sex with you too, honey.
8. I was working on our family album before I left (remember those piles of photos and stuff lying around?), so you could have looked at that.
9. or Step-father? (just kidding, honey).
11. That’s the sweetest thing anyone ever said to me. Though I think what it really means is that your “common sense” and mine are quite similar.
Re #11, no, I think we are the only two people in the world with nearly perfect common sense. In terms of percentages, we’re both at around 99%. Other people are around 50-60%. Our friends are at around 80%.